Digital Trends

Blackberry Pearl Flip 8220

November 17th, 2008 | by John Brandon

Software and extras

From an aesthetic standpoint, the phone is a stark departure from the business-centric look and feel of previous Blackberry models. The Blackberry OS looks just as stylish as the hardware design too, with very cool buttons that you’ll want to click and experiment with. Most of the tools here are standard -issue: Contacts, e-mail, web browser, etc. However, there's also a voice dialing app called Nuance that worked well, and a handful of so-so games. For example: Sudoku is always a treat, and there's a poker simulation that worked well for long car trips.

Testing and Performance

The typical Blackberry device is not known for amazing music and video support, and the Pearl Flip is no exception. Built-in memory allows only about 50MB of internal storage, and the test phone we used came with a 1GB microSD card. We loaded it up with new Coldplay tracks, an MPEG-4 movie we recorded off of a DVD using a program called HandBrake, and a bunch of photos. There’s no comparison here with multimedia leaders, though. The Apple iPhone is a true multimedia device – your files pop up on screen quickly. The Flip operates more like a Motorola Q or Palm Treo in that there is a slight delay with media and playback can be a bit jerky at times.

We used Denon's AH-C551K earbud set, and music playback, when it wasn't pausing slightly, was exceptionally good. (The Flip includes earbuds that are just passable in quality, but not the best for long listening sessions.) Still, there's no way to easily add new songs – we missed the G1's ability to quickly access the Amazon MP3 store and play tunes on internal memory. Meanwhile, the fact that you can download movies in iTunes and sync them to an iPhone makes the Pearl Flip's more clunky manual file transfer process not really worth the effort. Another way of stating this is simply that playback quality is decent, even if enhanced ease-of-use is something that RIM is still trying to figure out. Bear in mind too: RIM includes a media manager client for PC (sorry, Mac users) that works reasonably well for converting some material for support on the Flip, but is no match for more robust players such as iTunes or the Zune client.

Battery life for all features – including screening multimedia, making phone calls, snapping photos and surfing the Web – is actually pretty good compared to more modern phones, such as the HTC Touch Pro and the G1. Our Flip lasted for about two days of occasional use without needing a charge – it's rated for four hours of constant use.

Conclusion

The whole point of the Flip is this: You get all the features of a Blackberry minus the full keyboard. As such, it proves an excellent phone for those either willing to learn how to use the two-character key typing or who probably won't be writing any novellas over e-mail anyway. As such, we heartily recommend the Pearl Flip as a stylish phone with ready Wi-Fi connectivity and good battery life. But, to be fair, we would also recommend steering clear of the handset if you need a great camera, tend to type a lot, and/or are worried about getting lost in a big city.

Pros:

• Very trendy design
• High-quality voice calls
• Cool user interface

Cons:

• No GPS
• Average quality photos
• Predictive type requires learning